D'arcy Carden

THRIVES ON THE ENERGY OF PERFORMANCE

D’ARCY CARDEN LIVES FOR A REACTION FROM AN AUDIENCE.

“PERFORMANCE AND ACTING IS ALL SO SUBJECTIVE,” SHE SAYS.

Interview by: ERIN TATUM

“You’re in your head and it’s hard to know if you’re doing it right and what it looks like on camera. There are so many questions, but when you’re on stage and you make an audience laugh, there’s no question about what just happened. It’s such immediate gratification.” Bringing joy to others makes her heart sing. It’s an intimate rush of endorphins between performer and viewer. “There are so many different parts of performing and acting that feel good. Art is just a strange thing. There’s just something about creating an environment where people are happy enough to laugh, where you’re just like, we’re doing something right here. This is why I do this.” She considers it a privilege to play so many different people, especially those whose stories might have previously been considered unworthy. “Some of the characters I get to play are goofy or silly or light, but sometimes, I’m really getting to tell the story of someone who maybe doesn’t get their story told as much and that always feels like such an honor. It’s also

just fun. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a privilege, but the truth is, I’m always having so much fun doing it that it’s a win-win.”

Each role is a shining gem she carries in her pocket until it’s finally time to be broadcasted to the viewers. Bathing in that collective light is immensely enriching for D’Arcy. “There’s two parts of it because you’re in the moment acting with your scene partners either on the stage or on the set. That’s a whole thing - for an actor to get to do the actual acting is so wonderful. And then when it’s TV and movie stuff, there’s this whole other thing, which is the audience experiencing it later on. With the two most recent things I’ve done, Shotgun Wedding and A League of Their Own, I had a year or two in between shooting them and them coming out into the world. I got to live with this little secret, this little thing that I experienced with my fellow actors and the crew and the directors. It’s such a fun thing to get to share that with

D’A RCY“ ”

YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR CAST.

the audience, with the world, with whoever’s watching it, and see how it hits them. It’s such a beautiful thing. It’s such a fun thing to get do with something like Shotgun Wedding. It’s this big flashy movie and it’s funny and there are twists and turns and all that. And then with A League of Their Own, seeing how these characters have connected with the fans of the show is just beautiful. It’s beautiful to get to be a part of it.”

The magic of bonding with a cast never gets old. The all-consuming affection never fails to be life-altering. “When you have gotten so close with your cast, it’s a similar thing to what I experienced as a kid when being in plays was such an energetic frenzy. You fall in love with your cast. You’re a family. You can’t get enough of each other and you’re seeing each other all hours of the day and working hard… and then you go away. You leave each other. When I was a kid with plays, I would think, ‘I miss my cast. Those are my people.’ The play finishes and you stop seeing them. It was such a heartbreak. With Shotgun Wedding, the cast lived together in this big beautiful house in the Dominican Republic. We were spending all of our time working together and having fun on the weekends. We were in each other’s faces 24 hours a day. It was amazing.

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And then everybody goes back to their little corners of the world when the movie’s done, but then, when the movie comes out, we get to see each other at the premieres and doing press. It’s back to old times. It’s been so great to reconnect with everybody. A big perk of getting to do this job is getting to make friends and fall in love with all these other actors and artists from all over the world.”

There are lessons to be taken away from every character, but D’Arcy has a soft spot for a fan favorite. “There’s something about Janet from The Good Place that helps me tap into my curiosity and positivity. There’s a part of Janet that I really admire and hope to be like or emulate. She’s so unflappable and she finds positivity in any situation. There’s just something about Janet that I adore. I would be lucky if I could be more like her. Also, with Greta from A League of Their Own, I find so much about that character to be admirable.”

She knows the inherent value of her

fictional counterparts well. “With every character, there’s something about them that’s aspirational, something that I would want to be or take with me. Even with Harriet from Shotgun Wedding, she’s such a boss and she’s so in charge. She may not be the world’s nicest person or have the best heart, but she’s driven and in charge and really knows what she wants and gets what she wants mostly. So there’s something I can take from each character for sure.” Playing Harriet in Shotgun Wedding was a blast for D’Arcy because she couldn’t get enough of the drama of the reveal. “It’s so fun when you get to play a character that has a secret or some hidden something. As an actor, it’s so thrilling. It’s such a fun tightrope to walk. Jason Moore (the director) and I talked about this a lot. We didn’t want to give anything away with Harriet’s twist.” It creates a retroactive scavenger hunt for the audience. D’Arcy lives for their shock. “It’s always frustrating when you watch a movie or a TV show that has a twist, but you go, ‘Wait, there was no

THERE’S

indication.’ You can’t be completely blindsided in that way. When you go back and watch, We were really trying to walk that line between not revealing too much, but if somebody went back and watched, they would be able to figure it out or see what we were getting at. It was just a fun extra thing to have to deal with every day. I had a little bit of experience with that in The Good Place with Janet, because at the end of Season one, there’s a big huge twist. Mike Schur and I were doing the same thing where

we didn’t want to give anything away, but we just wanted to make sure that the breadcrumbs were there when you went back and watched. It’s this unexpected thing that I’ve gotten to do a few times in my career that is so fun. It’s such a pleasure and it’s so exciting. It’s also great to watch people’s reactions. With the first season of The Good Place, I said that I just wanted to be in the living room with people when they watched that season finale of season one and watch their faces while they were watching “ ”

YOU CAN’T BE COMPLETELY BLINDSIDED IN THAT WAY.

the TV. I got to experience that with Harriet at the premiere because we watched it in this big gigantic movie theater with all these people. It was so fun when a couple of the twists happened, just getting to feel the audience gasp. It was so rewarding.”

Shotgun Wedding masters the art of weaving complexity within simplicity. “It’s just such a great idea,” D’Arcy enthuses. “A couple is about to break up at their wedding and then they have to work together to solve a problem, which then brings them back together. It’s an easy idea and you’re rooting for them so much. When I first

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SOMEHOW ALL THESE WEIRDO ACTORS FOUND THMSELVES IN THIS FANCY ADULT CAMP.

read it, I couldn’t read it fast enough. I was really wanting it all to work out and really wanted them to get back together and wanting the good guys to defeat the bad guy. I love how it all came together. It’s just such a fun watch.” Not to mention that the experience of filming was a fantasy getaway come to life! “Getting to live together with all these actors in the Dominican Republic for three months was such a joy. We just had the best time together, sort of on ‘vacation.’ I mean, we were working, but we were really living on the beach and getting to have these fabulous dinners and playing in the pool on the beach. Somehow all these weirdo actors found themselves in this fancy adult camp. The fact that the movie has been such a hit is just icing on the cake.” Naturally, silliness abounded. After a year of quarantine, the cast was more than ready to let loose. D’Arcy was humbled to be gifted with such vibrant (even if occasionally rowdy) companionship after months of isolation. “Everybody had been indoors for a year. We were used to the four walls of your house or your apartment. You weren’t making new friends and you weren’t having

dinners with people and it was a lonely, scary time. So to get to be in this beautiful house with all these new friends where we were spending 24 hours a day together was really special and we all bonded really quickly and really hard. There were a lot of dance parties. There was a lot of playing in the pool. It was really joyous. The people that lived together were so happy to be in this situation where we were living in this beautiful place with all these new friends and everybody was really living in the moment and taking advantage of it. Even before times, this situation of being in this gorgeous location with these wonderful people would’ve been a privilege, but it felt extra special because we were in such a lockdown that it felt like we were really getting to do something that not a lot of people were getting to do at that time. Nobody took it for granted.”

She’s over the moon to be on the cusp of one of her biggest ambitions. “I’m going to do a play in New York. I’m going to do a Broadway show,” she announces, her giddiness palpable. “I’m so beyond excited. I haven’t done a play

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EVERY TIME I THINK ABOUT IT, I GET TEARS IN MY EYES.

in a really long time and I’ve been longing for a play experience. I’m just blown away that I get to do this. This will be my Broadway debut.

I’m pinching myself, truly.” Her career is finally coming full circle. “I moved to New York with the hope of getting to do real New York theater and getting to do plays on Broadway. As a little kid actor, that’s what you dream about. It’s a tough road. Everybody knows how competitive it is. And I remember going to auditions and it was so overwhelming, especially when I first moved there. So many things with acting can be a little bit soul-crushing and dream-crushing really. So you kind of find where you fit in and

find your place. And for me in New York, that was onstage, but in more of the comedy scene, like the Upright Citizens Brigade and with improv and with sketch. That was where I found my community and my place, but always with the dreams of getting to be on Broadway. It almost felt like too big of a dream, like one of those dreams where you almost can’t bear to say it out loud because it’s too big. Every time I think about it, I get tears in my eyes.” After two decades of honing in on her identity as a performer, D’Arcy is at long last sharing her voice on the world’s biggest stage. v